Daniel Chodowiecki

“The Artist’s Study,” engraving by Daniel Chodowiecki depicting himself (right) with his family, 1771; in the Kupferstichkabinett, BerlinCourtesy of the Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin

Daniel Chodowiecki, in full Daniel Nikolaus Chodowiecki
(born October 16, 1726, Danzig, Poland—died February 7, 1801, Berlin, Prussia [Germany]), German genre painter and engraver of Polish descent who developed a particular talent for recording the life and manners of the German middle class.

Largely self-taught, Chodowiecki achieved his first popular success with the sentimental paintingThe Parting of Jean Calas from His Family (1767), which shows the influence of Greuze. Chodowiecki began engraving in 1758. After engraving several subjects from the story of the Seven Years’ War, Chodowiecki produced the famous History of the Life of Jesus Christ. Many books were published in Prussia with plates or vignettes by Chodowiecki. His 2,000 etchings were a record of 18th-century life in comfortable interiors, observed with a kindly humour that lacked the bite of William Hogarth, with whom he was often compared despite his own disclaimers. He became director of the Berlin Academy in 1797.